A scene from The Adventures of Prince Achmed.

PROVIDENCE A magic lamp. A beautiful princess. A guy named Aladdin.

Sound familiar? It should. The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, the ancient story collection that gave us characters such as Aladdin, Sinbad and Scheherazade, has inspired at least a thousand and one sequels, spin-offs and adaptations

Yet even if you can’t stand the thought of another Aladdin remake, there’s a good chance that you’ve never seen or heard anything quite like the performance due to take place Thursday at the Avon Cinema.

The occasion? A special screening of The Adventures of Prince Achmed, a German film reputed to be the first feature-length animated movie. Created in 1926, the film uses puppet-like silhouettes to tell the story of Prince Achmed, a dashing hero who battles to save his beloved, the beautiful Peri Banu.

A highlight of the screening will be a live performance by members of the Silk Road Ensemble, the globe-trotting musical collective that specializes in music from Central and Eastern Asia. The group, which records and performs under the organizational aegis of the Providence-based Silk Road Project, will perform music written by the ensemble specifically for the film, which has no soundtrack of its own.

“It really is the perfect vehicle for us,” says Silk Road executive director Laura Freid. “The Silk Road Project was founded with the mission of bringing East and West closer together. The Adventures of Prince Achmed is a German animated movie based on stories from the Arabian Nights. What could be better?”

Freid says that Silk Road members began composing music for the film last fall. At the time, the Silk Road Ensemble was in residence at the Rubin Museum of Art, a New York City museum that specializes in the art of the Himalayas. As part of their residency, the musicians were asked to compose and perform music for one of the films in the museum’s silent-movie series. Freid says the musicians’ choice was unanimous.

“After seeing the film, I don’t think anybody had any doubts,” Freid says. “The sheer beauty of Prince Achmed, combined with the Arabian Nights source material, made it an obvious choice.”

Despite an extra-tight schedule — the musicians had about a week to compose and rehearse the music for Prince Achmed — the performance was a hit with both the audience and the musicians.

“Simply put, it was a roaring success,” says Rubin Museum programming director Tim McHenry. “Some people came because they’d heard about the performance. Other people just wandered in off the street. But no matter why they were there, they all loved it. I only wish we could bottle that kind of response.”

Silk Road violist Nick Cords says the musicians fed off the audience’s energy.

“I don’t think any of us were prepared for how big a role the audience would play,” he says. “It was almost like a game — people were so inside the experience. Partly, that’s due to the visual effects of the movie, which is really quite beautiful and hypnotizing. But having the music performed live also helped.”